INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NETWORK MANAGEMENTInt. J. Network Mgmt. 9, 285(1999)

From the Editor

Father Gore Needs a Reality Check

Y ou can tell it’s beginning to look like election time by the level of political statements emanatingfrom Washington, D.C. One of the more notable statements, perhaps for its tall tale even for apolitician, is Al Gore’s claim to be the father of the Internet.

For those of us that were knee-deep in real-world problems such as configuring router access lists,examining network bandwidth utilization, or running diagnostic tests, Vice President Al Gore whilebeing interviewed by CNN claimed that ‘. . . during my service in the United States Congress, I took theinitiative in creating the Internet.’ While the Vice President’s legislative career is notable for promotingtechnological advancements to include funding for libraries, colleges, and public schools to connect tothe information highway, a term he claims to have coined and that I will not dispute; in no way, shape,or form is he the father or even a distant relative of the Internet. For a politician to claim such is absurdand denigrates the efforts of tens of thousands of individuals to include many prominent persons thatcontributed to the development of the network of networks we know as the Internet.

When we examine the development of the Internet we must first note the efforts of packet networkingtechnologies that provided the infrastructure which enabled ARPAnet to expand from a research projectto a viable commercial enterprise. Along the way thousands of persons were involved at colleges anduniversities, government agencies, and commercial enterprises. Although the Internet was a viablemechanism for email, file transfer, and remote connectivity, it wasn’t until a few years ago that the Webbrowser provided the tool to expand the use of the Internet into tens of millions of homes and offices.Surely Al Gore is not claiming to be the father of the browser? Since then, researchers and entrepreneurs atprivate organizations developed voice digitization techniques and the mechanism to transport digitizedvoice that allows the Internet to carry voice conversations between continents. Surely Al Gore is notclaiming to be the father of IP telephony?

While everyone is entitled to make relatively silly statements, the claim of Vice President Al Gore hastaken silly to its limits. In addition, his claim to fame denigrates the real efforts of tens of thousandsof researchers and entrepreneurs who are the true fathers of the Internet. As my Macon TV announcerwould say: ‘That’s my opinion—what’s yours?’

—Gilbert Held

Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. CCC 1055–7148/99/050285–01$17.50